A Critical Reading of the Conflict between Precautionary and Proactionary Principles in Technology Policy

In the recent years, a revolution in culture and technology policy has been taking place in the industrial countries, which is known as the proactionary turn. From policy making standpoint, proactionary school is the opposite of precautionary approach. Both of these schools are focusing on risk as their central concept. While precautionary approach emphasizes on risk-control as well as risk-avoidance, proactionary standpoint is created around the idea of the significance of risk-taking for making technological progress. This article examines the presumptions of these two approaches in policy in their historical and legal contexts. The article also tries to introduce the two mentioned approaches to Iranian scholars and decision makers. The critical examination of Precautionary and Proactionary approaches will constitute a proposal for a national tech/culture policy document which works as a foundation and framework of decision-making about the emerging technologies. This theoretical research will use library research as a data gathering method.